NCJ Number
228844
Journal
Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 36 Issue: 10 Dated: October 2009 Pages: 1037-1050
Date Published
October 2009
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This study examined how the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) ameliorated substandard conditions at the super maximum Unit 32 of Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman.
Abstract
Pursuant to two Federal consent decrees, the MDOC greatly reduced the population in administrative segregation and established a step-down mental health treatment unit for prisoners excluded from administrative segregation. The results of this series of events at Unit 32 contradict some widespread assumptions about supermax administrative segregation. The popularity of super maximum security units is premised on the assumption that the dangerous prisoners confined therein cannot program safely at any lower level of security, and that violence and misconduct in the prisons cannot be controlled without keeping a growing number of dangerous prisoners in long-term administrative segregation. An extrapolation of this assumption suggests that releasing the majority of prisoners from supermax to general population will result in increases in the rates of violence, serious disciplinary incidents, and use of force. The fact that these rates actually decreased following the transfer of a majority of prisoners out of administrative segregation at Unit 32, contradicts that assumption. The process of enacting the changes and the outcomes, including the large reductions in rates of misconduct, violence, and use of force are described in detail. Table, figures, and references